Torah · Halacha YomitIntro to Threshing / דשRabbi Uri Nahum · October 22, 2026 · 39 Melachot-15Play+30Position0:00—Save⌄ShareSeparating food from its husk or shellTranscript0:00Okay, so yesterday we did melacha me'amer. It's a very short0:04melacha, and we're moving on to the next melacha, number five, melacha of dash.0:09Dash translates as threshing, only threshing.0:12So let's tell you what usually happens, then we'll give you the exact definition,0:16because a lot of the halachot are really carefully selected in the definition.0:20So what happens is, after they piled up all the wheat stalks,0:24so now if you look at the wheat stalks, you'll see that it's called the head of the wheat.0:29The kernels that we really need, that we need to make the flour from, is in a shell,0:36okay? But there's many. When you talk about wheat stalk, we're talking about like maybe 20, 25,0:40whatever is inside that wheat stalk.0:42So you could sit there, actually pick each one and take, you know, crack it and take it out.0:46That would be very hard to do because it's very tedious, very long.0:50What they used to do is that actually they pile it on the floor,0:53they would set it on the0:55floor, and there's different ways of doing it.0:58One way was to take a big heavy board, connect it to an animal,1:02and the animal would walk, and the heavy board would come and crush the wheat1:07stalk. So this way it cracks it open for you.1:09So now the closest thing I could tell you this that you probably have is1:14imagine taking sunflower seeds, right?1:16With the whole fun is, you know, you don't want just this,1:18but imagine taking that, they're a little bit softer maybe,1:21and then you sit there and you crush, crush, crush,1:24crush. Afterwards, you're going to see a lot of the shells are cracked1:27and the seeds are inside.1:29Now, the sunflower seeds are much harder than the kernels that are in the wheat1:34stalk. So this is how they did it in those days.1:38Today, and again, different technologies, different things that they do,1:40but the definition of the melacha, which is what we need to know,1:44okay, that's what they did.1:45But for us, for practical purposes, what we need to know is1:48it's the act of extracting. Listen to this.1:52Earth-grown objects from their natural shells through1:57beating. Okay,1:58again, it has to be earth-grown, right, and from their natural shells,2:03and it has to be beating also.2:04For example, if you take sunflower seeds, isn't that the same thing?2:08I'm taking out also the inside from the outside shell,2:12but that's not through beating, right?2:15So there's a major difference.2:17Now, there's three conditions to be considered this melacha to be done2:21mid'Oraita. You need all three conditions to be considered2:23mid'Oraita. Number one is the outside, that means the shell,2:27and the inside, which is what you're trying to get out,2:29has to be of two different types.2:32For example, the shell over here, like we said, if you look at the wheat shell,2:36it's a different type than the inside.2:39It can't be the same thing.2:40Number two is it has to be something that grows from the ground.2:43So if a person wants, for example, again,2:45if a person wants to take a tuna can and boom, beat it2:50and open up the tuna can, right, just by beating it,2:53believe it or not, fish don't grow from the ground.2:56That's where tuna comes from.2:58And the metal, although it's in there, doesn't grow from the ground. Obviously, it doesn't apply.3:02Number three is also, it can't be something that's the normal way of eating.3:07If that's the normal way of eating something, that's not a problem.3:10For example, here's another case.3:12Take a coconut, okay?3:14How do you eat a coconut?3:16So again, different3:17minhagim. Some people maybe just take the hard shell of the coconut and bite into it.3:20I don't know,3:21maybe got good teeth,3:22but most people don't eat a coconut that way, right?3:24You take a hammer and you beat it,3:27and hopefully you don't miss and it doesn't fly, you know,3:29but you beat it or you hit it and it cracks open, right?3:34So it's not the same thing as3:36dash. You're beating something;3:37it's earth-grown. Right?3:38The outside and the inside is two different things, right?3:42And you're beating it to come out.3:43Yeah, but that's the derech to eat it.3:46That's the normal way of eating it,3:47as opposed to the wheat. That's not the way to eat wheat, right?3:51Because you first have to take it,3:52then that's not3:53derech achilah; it's a preparation for the3:56achilah. So again, to be, again, the three conditions in order that it should be dash,4:00which is the melachah min4:03haTorah, it has to be that the kernel, the inside and the outside has to be two different material,4:09that they have to be4:12earth-grown, they come from the ground.4:14And number three is it's not the4:16derech achilah; that's not the normal way of eating it.4:18Like we said, it's normal preparing, but not the way of eating it.4:21So with that introduction, we'll give you one more thing, and that is4:25a toladah, and that will be a setup for a lot of the4:28halachot. The Gemara says a toladah, an extension of these4:31melachot. Every melachah is a category, right?4:33The subcategories, also asur min haTorah, is sechitah, squeezing.4:37For example, if you take grapes and you squeeze them, it's the same idea.4:42It's not exactly that, but it is under dash.4:44It's4:45also asur min haTorah. So that's where most of the halachot in the Ma'aseh will come from,4:48which is sechitah, which is the act of squeezing fruits or other things,4:52which we'll talk about, be'ezrat Hashem. We'll talk about that.